I Don’t Want to Make History(I Want to Be One of Many)

Poetry & Prose by Britt Wolfe

They tell me to lean in,
to stand out,
to make history—
as if survival were ambition.
As if I should be grateful
for being the first one through the door
they spent centuries locking.

But I am tired of being a milestone.
Tired of the headlines that say “first woman to—”
as though my existence is an accomplishment
and not a correction.

I don’t want to make history.
I want history to stop needing women like me
to bleed for it.

I don’t want to shatter glass ceilings.
I want to live in a house
that was never built to keep me out.

I don’t want to be your inspiration,
your exception,
your evidence that the system works sometimes.
I want to be ordinary.
Commonplace.
Unremarkable in my freedom.

I want little girls to grow up
and find no glory in being the only one,
because there are hundreds beside them—
elbow to elbow,
brilliant, flawed,
taking up space
without having to earn the right.

Do not clap for me because I endured.
Ask why endurance was required.
Ask why every step forward
still feels like trespassing.

I don’t want to make history.
I want to be part of a chorus,
not a solo.
I want the next generation
to look back and not remember my name—
not because I didn’t matter,
but because they all do.

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Poetry and Prose by Britt Wolfe